outlandish

Etymology

From Middle English outlandisch, from Old English ūtlendisċ, from Proto-West Germanic *ūtlandisk, from Proto-Germanic *ūtlandiskaz. Related to Old English ūtland (“foreign land, land abroad”) (whence English outland). Sense of “bizarre” from 1590s. Surface analysis outland + -ish. Cognate to German ausländisch, dated Dutch uitlands (now buitenlands), Swedish utländsk, “foreign, non-domestic”, Danish udenlandsk, Faroese útlendskur, all “foreign, non-domestic”.

adj

1. Bizarre; strange.
   The rock star wore black with outlandish pink and green spiked hair.
   Except for an eye-catching sky-blue container boldly and attractively featuring the B.T.C.'s "door-to-door" arrow symbol […], there were no outlandish colour schemes or lettering styles. 1961 July, “Talking of Trains: The Marylebone exhibition”, in Trains Illustrated, page 388
   I hardly need to add that this story requires outlandish assumptions to make investment behaviour more passive than one would expect it to be in an industrial capitalist economy. 1970, Robert M. Solow, Growth Theory: An Exposition, Oxford University Press, page 13
2. (archaic) Foreign; alien.